As the 7-inch tablet market becomes more crowded, and as 7-inch tablets have become less expensive, they have made up a growing portion of the overall tablet market. Now, with smartphones creeping up to mini-tablet sizes, tablets themselves are beginning to grow larger. Samsung and Apple are rumored to be creating mega-tablets with 12-inch screens, and DigiTimes today reported that 7-inch tablets could soon gain an inch.

The report cites unnamed “Taiwan-based supply chain makers” as saying HP, LG, Lenovo, and Asus are all preparing 8-inch tablets to compete with the iPad Mini’s 7.9-inch screen, as well as Samsung’s 8-inch Galaxy Tab 3 and Acer’s 8-inch Windows 8 tablet. Asus’ 8-inch offering is expected before the end of the year. HP’s is rumored to have a Tegra 4 processor and 1600 x 1200 resolution display.

The report also predicts that the lower prices of 8-inch Android devices could make them highly competitive with the iPad Mini. As component costs continue to drop, the low prices of 8-inch tablets could also begin cutting into sales of full-sized tablets such as the iPad. 7-inch tablets could also soon find themselves obsolete, if consumers end up preferring the screens on 8-inchers.

(via DigiTimes)